YOUNG MAN'S TRAGIC DEATH

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 117, 13 November 1929, Page 21

YOUNG MAN'S TRAGIC DEATH

_ Tho death occurred under tragic circumstances at his home in Raroa road, Kelburn, on Friday afternoon, of Richard Ivan Petherick, aged 21, a Victoria University College atudent, and ex-Wellington College boy, and son. of Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Petherick. When Mrs. Petherick left her residence in the afternoon to go to town her son was studying, and on her return she found him dead, in the basement which he used in connection with physical exercises.

An inquest on the deceased was conducted by the Coroner'(Mr. E. Page, S.M.) yesterday. The mother gave evidence that her son regularly exercised in the basement of tho house. Ho practised swimming strokes, and for this purpose erected a sort of network of rope. When she went to the basement on her return from town she found two ropes round her son's body and another, which apparently had slipped, round his neck. The body was suspended, but the feet were well on the ground.

To Mr. Page, Mrs. Petheriek said that the deceased appeared to be in splendid physical health, and he waß in good spirits. He was studying for his B.Sc. Degree. She thought that her son had been doing the exercises suspended from the ropes for some months.

The Coroner said that he had had an opportunity of inspecting the basement, and it was clear from his examination that it was the practice of the deceased to carry out his physical training there in the manner described by his mother. For some of his exercises he rigged up a network of rope, from which he suspended himself. Looking at the whole of the facts, he thought that death was due to misadventure. Tho irnpressidn. formed in his mind, both from his inspection and the evidence that had been given, was that the deceased, in getting in or getting out of the network, cither became faint or slipped, and one of tho strands of rope caught round his neck and he became strangled. His verdict would be.that tho deceased died as tho result of accidental strangulation. Mr. A. A. Wylie,'who appeared for the deceased's parents, said that ho had been asked to state that tho parents thought that the cause of death was heart failure. Mr. Petherick had had a suspicion, although not a strong suspicion, that his son's heart was somewhat weak. Whenever he went for a swim he was troubled by excessive blueness. Mr. Wylie also said that he had been asked to express the thanks of the parents, for the courteous and tactful manner in which the police had conducted inquiries, with particular reference to Constable ITollis.